Hi, I'm having trouble with the freestyle tumble turn.
My freestyle is okay - not too slow but not amazing. However, I am absolutely horrible at the turns. I can't seem to get enough momentum for the turns. I can't turn fast enough, and thus the turn is very sloppy, always ending up with me somehow staring at my feet when my body's underwater after the turn and my upper body too low in the water. I've watched some really good turners turn with absolute ease - mind you, I can swim faster than some of them, and some of them just seem to glide into their turns with no speed at all, but they build up huge momentum during the turn, finishing the turn with their legs almost straight and very far away from the wall, but still be able to get a good pushoff that's not deep at all.
So, how do I get my tumble turn to work? How can I turn fast enough and with my legs relatively straight? When I turn by umping off the floor of the shallow end I turn like the good turners, but when I swim into the wall I can't turn anymore, which leads me to believe that I'm not getting enough momentum.
Parents
Former Member
great description of a turn.
The one thing that strikes me about your description is something my coach said to me... but not in so many words
"When you plant your feet on the wall you should be on your back staring at the ceiling (or sky)..."
One day as I was thinking about what she had said as I was doing a turn I suddendly realized... ceiling, what ceiling? Instinctively, I was closing my eyes as I excelerated into the wall. Well, why shouldn't I? When you are about to run into something you close your eyes. The next turn I forced myself to I kept my eyes open. I didn't see the ceiling, I saw the side of the pool to my right. That's when I realized why I wasn't going over straight. It was because I had my eyes closed and the lack of visual feedback didn't help me to get into the right position. The next turn I did more slowly and when I felt my feet on the wall, I corrected where I was looking and memorized how that position felt. After several more attempts of getting into the right position to push off the wall and memorizing how it felt I started going over straight. I can now flip WITH my eyes closed.
It takes practice. Swim out past the flags, swim towards the wall, flip, streamline, push, twist and glide... try to glide a little bit further each time. From the point you stop, turn around and swim back toward the wall. Repeat numerous times.
Lainey
great description of a turn.
The one thing that strikes me about your description is something my coach said to me... but not in so many words
"When you plant your feet on the wall you should be on your back staring at the ceiling (or sky)..."
One day as I was thinking about what she had said as I was doing a turn I suddendly realized... ceiling, what ceiling? Instinctively, I was closing my eyes as I excelerated into the wall. Well, why shouldn't I? When you are about to run into something you close your eyes. The next turn I forced myself to I kept my eyes open. I didn't see the ceiling, I saw the side of the pool to my right. That's when I realized why I wasn't going over straight. It was because I had my eyes closed and the lack of visual feedback didn't help me to get into the right position. The next turn I did more slowly and when I felt my feet on the wall, I corrected where I was looking and memorized how that position felt. After several more attempts of getting into the right position to push off the wall and memorizing how it felt I started going over straight. I can now flip WITH my eyes closed.
It takes practice. Swim out past the flags, swim towards the wall, flip, streamline, push, twist and glide... try to glide a little bit further each time. From the point you stop, turn around and swim back toward the wall. Repeat numerous times.
Lainey
